Evans Concrete

Precast concrete manufacturer Evans Concrete has experienced substantial growth over recent years as it builds its portfolio up with high profile and complex projects
Concrete prestige

Precast concrete manufacturer Evans Concrete has experienced substantial growth over recent years as it builds its portfolio up with high profile and complex projects

With a history traceable for over 100 years Evans Concrete now occupies a leading position in the UK precast concrete market with a strong reputation for high profile and prestigious projects under its belt. Focused investment into its production facilities, established relationships with major construction partners and careful attention to its employees defines the company’s current success. However, rewind to 2010 and Evans was a company hit by recession with a project pipeline no longer than three months. Over the following years Chairman Garry McBride has taken advantage of high profile projects that have proven instrumental to the company’s continued survival and has implemented a process of diversification to further cement it. Indicating the success since that time, the company has trebled in size, both in terms of revenue and employees levels.

Perhaps the most prestigious project involvement to date for Evans is the participation it had in the London 2012 Olympic Park construction. Partly down to a strong relationship with contractor Balfour Beatty, but equally attributable to its quality product and service, Evans won a total of 30 orders to supply 13,750 tonnes of concrete for 8600 units to the site. The units included bridge decks, parapets, edge beams and infrastructure works for access to the main stadium. The success at the East London site didn’t stop at the completion of the Olympic project either, as Evans has been heavily involved in the legacy stage of the park’s development.

More recent successes for Evans can be found within London’s CrossRail project. With a current value of £5 million the scheme represented a major turnaround for the company when it was announced shortly after the 2010 general election. Speaking to Construction and Civil Engineering Garry explains: “Towards the end of the recession, which went on far too long, the position of the construction industry was especially difficult. My only aim was to stay in business because I knew that sooner or later it would be over and projects like CrossRail would provide work in the future.” Evans has been working with Blakedown Landscapes and Canary Wharf Contractors to manufacture walkway planks and radius seating as part of the Canary Wharf Station development, which has been designed by internationally famous architectural firm, Foster and Partners. Other contracts within the CrossRail programme involve providing the foundations for London Liverpool Street Station plus external and internal cladding for Whitechapel, Farringdon Street and Pudding Mill Lane stations. “This is a huge amount of work for us, which is going to keep us going until 2017,” says Garry.

Also central to the company’s revival over the past five years is its attention to diversifying from creating standard products to be installed by an external contractor to delivering a completely bespoke solution from manufacture to installation. Testifying to Evans’ success in becoming a complete solutions provider is the £45 million Cheltenham Racecourse development. Evans’ £1.6 million contract is to manufacture a specialist steel and precast concrete hybrid solution for the crescent walkway and horse walk bridge, plus balcony walkways and grandstand terracing. Whilst the contract represents particularly complex challenges, as each deck slab of the walkway and horse bridge weighs 21 tonnes, it only serves to further prove the capabilities of Evans to deliver innovative product and advanced installation to such high profile and demanding projects. At the time of publication, the stand and terracing has been completed and the crescent walkway has just entered its installation phase due for completion in mid-August.

Such is the recent and ongoing success of Evans that it has been recognised for its achievements in the prestigious Derby Telegraph Business Awards where it recently won the 2015 Excellence in Manufacturing award. Set against the highly productive and manufacturing powerhouse that is Derbyshire, the award was given to Evans due to the extensive sustainable growth it has achieved in recent years, whilst still upholding the manufacturing traditions of the local area. The award also recognised the high levels of investment Evans makes into both its employees and facilities, including a recent £250,000 batching plant development, as well as the quality achieved by its highly skilled workforce.

‘Where technology meets tradition’ is the company’s strap line and Garry highlights this as he explains: “It makes me proud that we are managing to maintain a traditional industry where people mean more than computers. Fifty per cent of our turnover is labour based, so it is very important that we provide this ex-mining community with skills and opportunities. Whilst we have the latest design technology, you still need traditional skills to hand make and finish the actual units.”

The company’s proactive approach to remaining steady and reactive to a challenging market in recent years has secured its success in today’s climate, and the outlook for the next two years is defined by an active work schedule. However, as Garry concludes: “Whilst we appear to be out of recession and there is a welcome period of growth, we do need to consolidate. We’re now in a situation where we can accept certain orders but we can’t go mad because we think that this demand will level out over the coming years. We continue to invest in our expertise, our software and design capabilities, and are also looking at other markets within what we do for additional opportunities to increase our turnover. Ultimately though, we will be focusing on a period of steady growth and consolidation.”

Evans Concrete
Services: Manufacture bespoke precast concrete architectural solutions